Text: DEA Official Assesses Threat of Mexico-Based Drug Cartels

(Keefe stresses rising dominance of Mexican drug rings)  (2870)

As the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) investigates international drug
trafficking cartels whose "violence and criminal activities threaten
towns and cities" across the United States, mounting evidence suggests
that "Mexico-based drug trafficking organizations pose some of the
greatest challenges" to U.S. law enforcement agencies, says Joseph
Keefe, special agent in charge of the DEA's Special Operations
Division.

In June 30 congressional testimony, Keefe described the rapidly
expanding role of the Mexican drug rings which now "dominate the
distribution of drugs throughout our country." Not only have the
organized crime syndicates in Mexico "grown significantly more
powerful and wealthy over the last six years," he said, "the influence
of these organizations is pervasive and continues to expand to new
markets in U.S. cities."

Keefe noted that these Mexican syndicates smuggle large quantities of
cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines and marijuana across the U.S.-Mexico
border -- and, in so doing, have established a strong presence in the
western United States, in some Midwestern cities, and increasingly on
the East Coast. Yet despite the numerous difficulties posed by Mexican
drug traffickers and their U.S. surrogates, he said, the DEA has had
some notable successes in pursuing these criminals.

The DEA, working in conjunction with other law enforcement agencies,
recently conducted an investigation that "culminated in the arrests of
over 225 suspects and the seizure of over 64 pounds of black tar
heroin," Keefe said. Operation Tar Pit, so named on account of the
high-purity black tar heroin that was targeted, "was a year-long
investigation which resulted in the complete disruption and
dismantling of the largest black-tar heroin organization operating in
the United States to date," he explained.

He concluded his testimony by pledging continued vigilance on the part
of the U.S. law enforcement community against the drug threat posed by
Mexico-based trafficking organizations. "The DEA is deeply committed
in our efforts to identify, target, arrest and incapacitate the
leadership of these criminal drug trafficking organizations," he said.

Following is the text of Keefe's testimony, as prepared for delivery:

(begin text)

Remarks by

Joseph D. Keefe
Special Agent in Charge
Special Operations Division
Drug Enforcement Administration
United States Department of Justice

Before the

House Committee on Government Reform
Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy
And Human Resources

Regarding

"Protecting the Southwest Border"

June 30, 2000
9:30 a.m.
Rayburn House Office Building
Room 2247

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Subcommittee: I appreciate this
opportunity to appear before the Subcommittee today to discuss the
issue of drug trafficking along the Southwest border. I would like
first to thank the Subcommittee for its continued support of the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) and overall support of drug law
enforcement. My prepared testimony will provide you with an objective
assessment of the law enforcement issues surrounding the drug threat
posed by international drug trafficking organizations operating from
Mexico. My oral remarks today will focus on the Mexican heroin trade
and our response to this threat.

The dedicated men and women of the DEA are committed to improving the
quality of life of the citizens of the United States. The agency
directs and supports investigations against the highest levels of the
international drug trade, their surrogates operating within the United
States and those traffickers whose violence and criminal activities
threaten towns and cities across the country. These investigations are
intelligence-driven and frequently involve the cooperative efforts of
numerous other law enforcement organizations.

Mexico-based drug trafficking organizations pose some of the greatest
challenges to law enforcement agencies in the United States. For
years, we have watched with concern as powerful organized crime
syndicates based in Mexico began to dominate the distribution of drugs
throughout our country. Through the dedicated efforts of federal,
state and local law enforcement agencies, we now have a clearer
picture of how these drug lords direct the sale of drugs within the
U.S., how they collect their billions of dollars in drug profits, and
how they arrange for the assassination of witnesses in both Mexico and
the United States.

In the recent past, drug traffickers from Mexico had maintained
dominance in the western part of the United States and in some Midwest
cities. Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration, along with other
law enforcement agencies, has developed evidence leading to
indictments demonstrating that associates of organized crime groups
based in Mexico have established themselves on the East Coast of the
United States, thus becoming significant participants in the
nationwide drug trade.

The organized crime syndicates in Mexico have grown significantly more
powerful and wealthy over the last six years, as their position in the
cocaine trade in the U.S. has been enhanced by the Colombians' payment
in cocaine for providing transportation services for drug loads. After
receiving as much as half of every shipment they smuggled into the
U.S. for the Cali Cartel, drug lords like Amado Carrillo-Fuentes, the
Arrellano-Felix brothers, and Caro-Quintero managed to establish their
own enormous distribution networks in the western and Midwestern
United States. These trafficking organizations have amassed billions
of dollars in drug profits annually and now rival their Colombian
counterparts in power, wealth, and influence.

Overview of Narcotics Smuggled along the U.S./Mexican Border:

Cocaine:

Nearly one-half of the cocaine available in the United States is
transported across the Southwest border. Typically, large cocaine
shipments are transported from Colombia, via commercial shipping,
fishing and "go-fast" boats, and off-loaded in Mexico. The cocaine is
transported through Mexico, usually by trucks, where it is warehoused
in cities like Guadalajara, Tijuana or Juarez, which are operating
bases for the major criminal trafficking organizations. These drug
trafficking organizations are known to exploit any means possible in
order to smuggle their poison into the United States.

Methamphetamine:

Over the past several years, established drug trafficking
organizations based in Mexico and Southern and Central California have
seized control of the illicit methamphetamine trade. The principal
reasons for their rise to dominance is the ability of these
organizations to exploit existing, well-established transportation and
distribution networks on both sides of the border, as well as their
ability to illegally secure large amounts of precursor chemicals.
These drug trafficking organizations have revolutionized the
production of methamphetamine by operating large-scale laboratories in
Mexico and California that are capable of producing unprecedented
quantities of methamphetamine. Almost all of the "super labs"
operating in the United States are located in California. These
organizations operate only a small percentage of the total
methamphetamine laboratories seized-nationally. However, these labs
produce an estimated 85 percent of the methamphetamine distributed in
the United States. These criminal organizations have saturated the
western United States market with methamphetamine; established their
distribution cells in other regions of the United States; and are
increasingly moving their methamphetamine to markets in the Midwestern
and eastern United States.

Marijuana:

The Southwest border is a major transit area for both Mexican and
Colombian marijuana smuggled into the United States. Seizures of
marijuana have almost doubled from 480,000 kilograms in 1996 to
approximately 947,000 kilograms seized in 1999.

Mexico is the predominant foreign source for marijuana consumed in the
United States and has been a major supplier of marijuana to the U.S.
for several decades. The principal organizations that transport
marijuana across the border are Mexico-based polydrug organizations.
These organizations smuggle significant amounts of marijuana, as well
as other illicit drugs, into the United States. Through an extensive
organization of associates, Mexico-based organizations control the
transportation and distribution of marijuana from hub cities along the
Southwest border to drug consumption markets throughout the United
States.

Mexican Heroin:

One of the most alarming trends today is the resurgence of heroin use
and addiction among our nation's young people. According to the 1998
National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, an estimated 230,000
Americans began using heroin during the two previous years.
Tragically, the average age of these new users was 18 -- the lowest
age since the 1960s.

These organized crime syndicates are not satisfied with their billions
in cocaine profits; they also seek similar profits in the heroin
trade. Mexico has become the second-largest source of heroin used in
the United States. Organized crime syndicates based in Mexico now
dominate the heroin market in the West and hold a substantial share of
the Midwest market and are actively pursuing markets on the East
Coast. We have evidence that these traffickers are providing samples
of black tar heroin or brown powdered heroin to contacts on the East
Coast in an attempt to generate product interest. In addition, some
Mexican traffickers have sought the expertise of Colombian chemists in
an effort to produce high-purity white heroin in their laboratories.

Historically, traffickers from Mexico used their proximity and access
to the Mexico-U.S. border to their advantage. After safely smuggling
heroin across the border, these organizations routinely stockpile the
heroin in locations such as San Diego and Los Angeles, California. The
heroin was subsequently distributed in pound quantities throughout the
United States. By keeping quantities small, they minimized the risk of
losing significant quantities of product to U.S. law enforcement. In
addition, once the heroin reaches the U.S., these traffickers rely
upon well-entrenched polydrug smuggling and distribution networks to
distribute their heroin.

The popularity of black tar heroin has increased as its purity has
soared. Traditionally, Mexican brown or "black tar" heroin was
recognized as an inferior and less pure grade of heroin. However,
recent investigations have revealed purity levels of black tar heroin
as high as 84 percent, explaining its increased popularity.

At this purity level, heroin can be administered by several methods,
including smoking and snorting the heroin. First-time and casual users
who find injecting heroin unglamorous and who want to avoid sharing
dirty needles prefer these methods of ingestion. However, as drug
users gain tolerance, addicted snorters and smokers are forced to turn
to injection, which quickly leads to hard-core addiction.

Heroin abuse is not restricted to the inner city poor and the
Hollywood elite. Middle-class teenagers and young adults in places
like Orlando, Florida, Plano, Texas, and Rio Arriba County, New
Mexico, have fallen prey to heroin addiction as a consequence of their
experimenting with high-purity dosages of this dangerous narcotic. In
Orlando, approximately 51 deaths were attributed to heroin overdose in
1999; and in Plano, at least 19 young adults have died from heroin
abuse since 1996. Tragically, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, had the
highest per capita heroin overdose death rate in America. Between 1995
and 1998 the small town of Chimayo, located in Rio Arriba County, has
suffered over 85 deaths attributed to high-purity black tar heroin.

Although black tar heroin has been available in the U.S. for many
years, these tragic consequences of heroin use clearly illustrates the
threat now posed by this potent type of heroin. In addition, black tar
heroin produced in Mexico has become the heroin of choice in areas
traditionally dominated by Colombian heroin and Southeast Asian heroin
manufactured in the Golden Triangle.

Violence:

Drug trafficking organizations based in Mexico routinely rely on
violence as an essential too I of the trade. Much of the drug-related
violence, which has become commonplace in Mexico, has spilled over
into the United States. Many of these acts of violence have been aimed
at U.S. law enforcement personnel working along or in close proximity
to the Southwest border.

Over the past few years drug traffickers have adopted a strategy of
taking increasingly confrontational and defensive actions when moving
drug loads across the Southwest border. During 1998, a relatively new
trend involving armed attacks by Mexican traffickers on U.S. law
enforcement officers continued with fatal consequences. These armed
encounters developed during the drug traffickers' attempts to avoid
arrest while fleeing back to Mexico. One such attack took place on
June 3, 1998, along the Southwest border near Nogales, Arizona. U.S.
Border Patrol Agent Alexander Kirpnick and a fellow agent were
attempting to arrest five Mexican males who were transporting
marijuana north across the border when he was shot and killed by one
of the traffickers.

Law Enforcement Response:

In response to the emergence of these criminal drug trafficking
organizations, it became apparent that a coordinated strategy for law
enforcement counterdrug activities needed to be implemented. In order
to combat drug production and trafficking networks operating along the
Southwest border, DEA, in concert with other Federal agencies
established the Southwest Border Initiative -- an integrated,
coordinated law enforcement effort designed to attack the
command-and-control structure of these criminal organizations. This
strategy focuses on intelligence and enforcement efforts, which target
drug distribution systems within the U.S., and directs resources
toward the disruption of those principal drug trafficking
organizations operating across the border.

In 1999, DEA developed Special Field Intelligence Programs (SFIPs)
which are designed to gather intelligence aimed at identifying Mexico
based heroin trafficking organizations operating in the United States,
particularly along the Southwest border. The SFIP concept is designed
to collect, analyze and disseminate drug trafficking intelligence in
areas where intelligence gaps exist. In addition, DEA launched
Operation Chiva in May 1999, which targets individuals who distribute
black tar heroin throughout the United States. The objectives of this
operation are to identify, arrest and prosecute the most significant
traffickers of Mexican heroin, and to coordinate a nationwide strategy
in this effort for DEA field offices.

The most effective way to dismantle these major drug trafficking
organizations is through multi-agency cooperative investigations. The
Special Operations Division enhances agency ability to dismantle these
criminal organizations. The Special Operations Division (SOD) is a
joint national coordinating and support entity comprised of agents,
analysts, and prosecutors from DOJ, Customs, FBI, DEA and IRS. Its
mission is to coordinate and support regional and national criminal
investigations and prosecutions against international drug trafficking
organizations that threaten our nation. These cooperative
investigations have yielded tremendous results, as evidenced by the
success of such cases as Operation Impunity, Operation Green-Air and
more recently Operation Tar Pit.

Operation Tar Pit was a year-long investigation which resulted in the
complete disruption and dismantling of the largest black-tar heroin
organization operating in the United States to date. The operation
culminated in the arrests of over 225 suspects and the seizure of over
64 pounds of black tar heroin.

The leadership of this organization was based in the Mexican state of
Nayarit, Mexico, and maintained several heroin-processing laboratories
in Nayarit which were supplying the United States. The El Paso
Intelligence Center reported that approximately 125 kilograms of
heroin had been seized along the Southwest border. Of the heroin
seized at the Southwest border in 1998, 39 percent was reported as
black tar heroin, 23 percent as brown heroin, 19 percent as South
American heroin and 19 percent as unknown. Currently, black tar heroin
accounts for as much as 80 percent of the total amount of heroin
produced in Mexico.

The investigation revealed that this organization was responsible for
smuggling and distributing approximately 80 to 100 pounds of black-tar
heroin a month into the United States. In addition, Operation Tar Pit
proved that Mexican traffickers were in fact attempting to expand
their traditional western markets into the more lucrative, high-purity
expand white heroin market in the eastern part of the nation currently
controlled by Colombia- based traffickers. The targeted Nayarit,
Mexico-based organization established heroin drug trafficking cells as
far west as Hawaii and as far east as New Jersey.

Operation Tar Pit also revealed this organization's ruthlessness and
total disregard for human life. During the investigation, it was
learned that these criminals targeted methadone clinics and, preyed on
heroin addicts who were seeking help for their heroin addiction. Their
callous marketing efforts were responsible for driving recovering
addicts back into the cycle of heroin use.

Conclusion:

Drug trafficking organizations operating along the Southwest border
continue to be one of the greatest threats to communities across this
great nation. As a result of their alliances with Colombian
organizations, Mexico-based drug trafficking organizations
increasingly have become organized, specialized and efficient, with
individual components steadily consolidating power and control over
well-defined areas of responsibilities and geographic strongholds. The
influence of these organizations is pervasive and continues to expand
to new markets in U.S. cities. Their power, influence and growth are
presenting new challenges to law enforcement agencies that are
addressing this threat.

The DEA is deeply committed in our efforts to identify, target, arrest
and incapacitate the leadership of these criminal drug trafficking
organizations. The combined investigations of DEA, FBI, the U.S.
Customs Service and members of other federal, state and local police
departments continue to result in the seizure of hundreds of tons of
drugs, hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds and the
indictments of significant drug traffickers.

Cooperative investigations such as Operation Tar Pit serve to send a
strong message to all drug traffickers that the U.S. law enforcement
community will not sit idle as these organizations threaten the
welfare of our citizens and the security of our towns and cities.

Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear before the
Subcommittee today. At this time I would be happy to answer any
questions you may have.

(end text)

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